A Ptolemaic medical chart in stone
On the rear wall of the Temple of Kom Ombo, carved into the stone, is a detailed display of medical tools from the Greco-Roman period. This relief is one of the earliest known depictions of surgical tools. The collection includes scalpels, forceps, shears, a bone saw, probes, specula, and medicine bottles. The images are clear enough to identify each instrument's function, providing direct evidence of the advanced state of Egyptian medicine around 2,000 years ago. These carvings suggest that the temple was a center for healing, where priests also acted as physicians.
The temple itself is an unusual "double" temple, built during the Ptolemaic Dynasty between 180 and 47 BC. It has a perfectly symmetrical design, with one half dedicated to the crocodile god Sobek and the other to the falcon-headed god Haroeris, or Horus the Elder. The medical relief is located in the section dedicated to Horus, who was associated with healing. The presence of Imhotep, the deified architect and physician, is also noted in the reliefs, showing the site's connection to medical practice.
Surgery on the Nile
The tools depicted at Kom Ombo align with knowledge from ancient medical texts, particularly the Edwin Smith Papyrus. This document, which may be a copy of a text from as early as 3000 BC, is the world's oldest known surgical treatise. It details 48 cases of physical trauma, including fractures, dislocations, and wounds, and describes rational, scientific treatments.
Egyptian surgeons performed a range of procedures. They set fractures using splints and closed wounds with sutures made from flax or with adhesive linen strips. They treated infections with honey, which has known antiseptic properties, and stopped bleeding with raw meat. Skulls from the period have evidence of trepanation—the drilling of holes into the skull—with signs of bone healing that indicate the patients survived the procedure. Minor surgeries, such as draining abscesses and removing small tumors, were also common. While their understanding of anatomy was limited by a religious prohibition on dissecting human bodies, their practical skills were substantial. For pain management, they used analgesics like an extract from the mandrake plant and opium. The actual tools used by these ancient physicians were typically made of bronze.